With the morning show ratings battle heating up, Good Morning America hit rewind and welcomed back weatherman Sam Champion. “Welcome home,” Robin Roberts said to Champion, who left the show in 2013 for the Weather Channel. “Feels good. Feels good,” Champion said. He’ll be filling in this week for Ginger Zee who is on maternity leave.
Since departing ABC, Champion has turned up on NBC’s Today show (NBC is a part-owner of the Weather Channel) as well as on CBS This Morning. Champion recently relocated to New York (from Atlanta) where he is developing a prime time show for the Weather Channel. His morning show, AMHQ, was canceled late last year.
ABC hopes the Champion stunt will continue to give GMA an edge on rival NBC’s Today show, which originated from Los Angeles this morning following last night’s Golden Globe Awards. GMA continues to lead among total viewers, but the Today show is winning in the ad friendly A25-54 demo. In fact, in the just-completed Q4 2015, the NBC morning show won the demo for first time in more than three years.